Work Text:
“‘Di ba sabi ko sa’yo, hindi kita iiwan? ” Narda tearfully says as Regina engulfs the more petite woman in a tight hug. They’re at the airport, bidding each other goodbye since Regina decided that it’s best for her and Narda to separately deal with the aftermath of the battle with General Borgo and the brief falling out of their friendship after they discovered each others’ alter egos.
A misty-eyed Regina pulls out of the hug and sniffles, “We need to do this, Narda. I need to do this. We’ve caused each other so much pain and I almost killed you in the process; and right now, I couldn’t forgive myself for that.” She wipes Narda’s tears from her face and leans forward to kiss the latter’s forehead. Narda closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, savoring Regina’s sweet scent one last time. When Regina pulls away from the kiss, she chokes back a sob and smiles at her best friend, her great love, and says; “I’m coming back for you, okay? I don’t know when, but I will. I promise you.”
Narda nods and sniffles before meeting Regina’s beautiful, brown orbs, “Sabi mo ‘yan, ah. Hihintayin kita, Regina. I promise.” Regina squeezes Narda’s hand one more time before finally letting go and entering the airport with Ali while Narda, who’s now being comforted by her family, watches Regina’s figure disappear into the crowd of travelers.
That was 7 years ago.
~~~
PRESENT DAY
~~~
“Ate, ready ka na ba para mamaya?” Ding asks his older sister as they sit in the car, waiting for the red light to turn green on their way to Vanguardia Foundation HQ. Narda smirks confidently in the driver’s seat as she glances at Ding and says, “ Syempre naman, di naman ‘to first time na may dadalaw na VIP sponsor ng foundation.”
“Naks naman, confident yarn?” Ding playfully shoves Narda which earned him a glare for being annoying while she’s driving.
“You know I have to be, ayoko naman ma-disappoint si Regina sa’kin no. She entrusted her foundation with me, so it’s my responsibility na i-manage ‘to nang maayos habang wala sya.”
Before Regina left the country, she asked Narda if she could hand over the foundation to her, much to Narda’s surprise and hesitancy. Regina explained to her that aside from Ali, she was the only other person Regina trusted enough to run the foundation properly because her heart is always in the right place and after a few discussions, Narda finally agreed. It had not been a smooth transition from being an EMT to acting President of Vanguardia Foundation; Narda had a lot of things to learn but Regina assured her that she and Ali will guide her through it. Three weeks after Regina left for Canada, Ali returned to start Narda’s training but that was also the time that Regina had stopped her direct communication with Narda. Though it hurt her, she understood why Regina had asked for it. They were both working on themselves and thought it would be a distraction if they kept in contact with each other. Ali had been the only mode of communication between the two women, keeping tabs on how each of them was doing, for the last six and a half years.
Narda had been supervised by Ali for about a year and a half and when he was confident enough that she was ready to run the foundation by herself, he went back to Canada to check up on Regina and only came home to the Philippines every couple of months to check on the foundation and their newly-appointed President again. Narda worked hard on making sure that she executes her responsibilities as acting President of VF accurately while also taking an online management course to be better suited for the job entrusted to her.
“Hmm… Oo nga naman, ate. Baka mamaya, tuklawin ka pa nun pag di mo inayos trabaho mo.” Ding jokes as they were pulling up at Narda’s designated parking space. Narda sighs and lets out a low “ Ding” and her brother’s eyes suddenly widen at the realization of what he had just said and immediately apologizes to his sister knowing that she doesn’t like hearing any references to Regina being Valentina. Narda just shakes her head as they both enter their building and Ding bids his sister goodbye as he heads to the IT department where he currently works at.
When Narda arrives on the 8th floor, she is immediately met by her assistant, Emman, with a huge smile on his face.
“Good morning, Miss Narda. Your coffee,” he says as he hands Narda a small cup. “Nandyan na po pala yung VIP and some of the board members, ma’am. Board Room 2.”
“Really? Ang aga naman?” she asks in surprise while glancing at her wristwatch. It was only 8:40 in the morning and their meeting wasn’t until 9 am. She looks at her secretary again who just shrugs, still smiling like there’s no tomorrow. Weird, she thinks. “Well, okay, I’ll just check my emails in my office for 5 minutes then I’ll be there,” Narda tells Emman as she goes inside her office.
Narda quickly checks her e-mails before closing her laptop and getting up to stand in front of her mirror. “Kaya mo ‘to, Darna,” she says to her reflection. This has been her daily mantra even after she gave up being the stone protector since it gives her a sense of confidence in everything she does. She might not be a superhero anymore, but she still tries to embody Darna’s virtues. Once she’s ready, she goes out of her office and proceeds to the board room. Narda opens the door of the board room and the first person she sees renders her speechless.
There, standing in the middle of the room with a couple of the foundation’s board members, was Regina Vanguardia. Narda froze on the spot as soon as their eyes met and all of her brain functions must’ve stopped because she failed to register that Regina was already speed-walking towards her.
“Narda!” Regina says excitedly while engulfing her best friend in a tight hug which brings Narda back to reality. Regina pulled back from the hug and squeezes Narda’s hand, “ Narda, hey” she uttered again with the soft voice that she always used with Narda which causes the latter to finally make eye contact.
“ R-Regina, y-you’re here?” Regina smiled and nodded, “ K-Kailan pa?”
Narda hates how awkward she’s being right now but then again, she can’t blame herself. She hasn’t seen nor talked to Regina in so many years but all of a sudden she’s right in front of her and she can’t believe it.
“ Just over the weekend. I wanted to surprise you but um, let’s talk about it after the meeting, okay? They’re all here” the taller woman says referring to the board members behind them who already had themselves seated for the meeting. She looks at Narda again whose now just staring at her and grabs her hand to lead her to the seats, “C’mon, let’s start the meeting so we can finish early.”
Once the meeting finished, Narda stormed out of the board room with Regina trailing silently behind her. “Emman, can you please move my 11 am to 4 pm, tell them I have an emergency,” Narda tells her assistant before entering her office.
“Nards, what’s wrong?” Regina calmly asks.
Narda, who’s facing her huge office windows, suddenly turns around to face Regina with tears flowing down her face, “What’s wrong? Ano’ng what’s wrong? 7 years kang di magpapakita sa’kin or kausapin man lang ako personally tas tatanungin mo’ko what’s wrong?” she asks Regina who’s taken aback by her outburst. Narda turns her back again from Regina and all the latter could do is let out a sigh. She takes a deep breath before slowly making her way to Narda and hugs her from behind while nuzzling her head on the smaller woman’s neck.
“I’m sorry,” Regina whispers while wrapping her arms around Narda a bit tighter. She feels Narda nod her head against hers before turning around to reciprocate the hug.
“Na-miss kita, sobra.” Narda says, calming down from her outburst and Regina lets out a relieved sigh.
“I missed you too, Narda.”
They stay in this position for a couple of minutes and Regina decides that she’ll talk to Narda about everything later on because at this moment, just basking in each other’s proximity after 7 years is enough.
"I'm finally home," Regina whispers with a content smile on her face.